Adding aquarium salt to my aquarium

[16gallontanker]

I have 4 mollies 3 octo catfish and 2 albino corys so my question is if I add a little each month to my 16 gallon tank will it kill any of these species of fish?

 

[seangee]

Why do you want to add salt? It is not needed or recommended for tropical fish and if you keep adding it will likely kill your fish.

 

[MaloK]

If all is going well, there's no need for it.

 

[GaryE]

Consider salt as a medication. Your mollies are hardwater fish, and Otos and Corys are softwater. If you water is hard, then you don't need salt for mollies. It will be harmful for the softwater fish.

 

[16gallontanker]

Ok

 

[jaylach]

Even with a marine tank you only add salt when doing water changes and never when just topping off the water level. The thing is that water evaporates but salt doesn't.

That said you don't add salt to a fresh water tank except as a medication and, even then, you start doing water changes after a couple of weeks to dilute and eventually get rid of all the salt.

 

[16gallontanker]

Oh OK

 

[16gallontanker]

Consider salt as a medication. Your mollies are hardwater fish, and Otos and Corys are softwater. If you water is hard, then you don't need salt for mollies. It will be harmful for the softwater fish.

I live in texas I think we have hardwater here

 

[anewbie]

If you have plants salt can murder them. Also the fishes you have really want soft water and making hard water harder isn't going to make them healthier. If your water is indeed hard then you can find appropriate stocking in central america and rift lakes. Naturally i don't mean travel to those locations but rather look up what species are native to those areas.

 

[16gallontanker]

If you have plants salt can murder them. Also the fishes you have really want soft water and making hard water harder isn't going to make them healthier. If your water is indeed hard then you can find appropriate stocking in central america and rift lakes. Naturally i don't mean travel to those locations but rather look up what species are native to those areas.

 

[GaryE]

Back in the pre-water change era, aquarists often added salt to try to control the damage pollution caused in their tanks. Like so many things, the idea lingers on long after it was obsolete. People are still told to add salt (aquarium salt is just non iodized salt in an expensive box). They do so for no valid reason - it was a band-aid solution at a time when people didn't understand the need for weekly 25-40% water changes.
Hardwater fish like mollies die in soft water. Their bodies are tuned to an extreme level of minerals in the water, and they break down rapidly in very soft water.
Softwater fish can usually adapt to harder water, but their lifespan will be reduced by it. Another old piece of harmful fishlore is the belief fish have adapted to all water, because they are sold in the trade. It's one of those "don't you wish it were true" thing we love to believe, and if we love to believe it, many of us will. The problem is it isn't true.
What's it mean, practically? You have to do a little research before you buy fish, to see what water they evolved in. If it works with what comes out of your tap, keeping them should be easy.
I don't know know your water, but in Texas waters, there are wild mollies doing just fine.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. If you keep the tank water extra clean with large, weekly water changes, salt isn't necessary. A tank that gets a water change once in a while could use a little standard aquarium salt, It could ease the stress the fish feel when nitrogen from dissolving fish and plant wastes gets a bit higher.

10

 

[GaryE]

Hello. If you keep the tank water extra clean with large, weekly water changes, salt isn't necessary. A tank that gets a water change once in a while could use a little standard aquarium salt, It could ease the stress the fish feel when nitrogen from dissolving fish and plant wastes gets a bit higher.

10

As you can see, this is the old argument referred to above. Salt was used to try to control problems in tanks allowed to decline in water quality. If you take proper care of the tank, no salt is needed, as @10 Tanks has said here.

 

[anewbie]

Hello. If you keep the tank water extra clean with large, weekly water changes, salt isn't necessary. A tank that gets a water change once in a while could use a little standard aquarium salt, It could ease the stress the fish feel when nitrogen from dissolving fish and plant wastes gets a bit higher.

10

Colorado - land of perfect water !

 

[10 Tanks]

Colorado - land of perfect water !

Hello again. Well, maybe not perfect water, but pretty close when you live close to the mountains. Water is very inexpensive here and so I can keep several large tanks and not worry about the cost of removing and replaceing most of the tank water in each one every week.

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